| 释义 |
discontinuous, a.|dɪskənˈtɪnjuːəs|
[f. med.L. discontinu-us (in F. discontinu), f. dis- 4 + continuus: see continuous.]
(Not in Johnson.)
†1. Producing discontinuity; breaking continuity between parts; gaping. Obs.
1667Milton P.L. vi. 329 So sore The griding sword with discontinuous wound Pass'd through him. 1703J. Philips Splendid Shilling (T.), A horrid chasm, disclos'd with orifice Wide, discontinuous.
2. Not continuous in space or time; characterized by want of continuity; having interstices or breaks; interrupted, intermittent.
1718Rowe tr. Lucan iii. 755 (Seager) Towers, engines, all come thundering to the ground: Wide spread the discontinuous ruins lie. 1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 32 In which case the stones would be discontinuous and appear like little stones. 1832Nat. Philos., Electro-Magnet. xi. §176 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) When the conductors are imperfect, the currents are discontinuous. 1880A. R. Wallace Isl. Life 13 This is one of the best cases..of the discontinuous distribution of a species. 1883Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Rep. 26 Ch. Div. 442 A right of way..is a discontinuous easement, because a man is not always walking in and out of his front door.
3. Math. discontinuous function: one that varies discontinuously, and whose differential coefficient may therefore become infinite: opp. to continuous function (see continuous 3).
1837Babbage Bridgew. Treat. iii. 59 note, Every law so imagined might be interrupted by any discontinuous function. 1845Cayley Inverse Elliptic Funct., Analytically discontinuous. 1881Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 8 The first derivatives of a continuous function may be discontinuous. 1885Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 50 If ρ, the density of matter, be finite in any portion of space, the first differential coefficients of V cannot be discontinuous in that portion of space. |